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County council cuts 4,127 people's pay, but spends £22m on external staff
More than £22 million of taxpayers' money was spent on consultants fees and agency staff by the county council last year.
New figures show the county council spent 8.5m on agency staff and 7.9m on technical advisors brought in for expertise on specific projects.
In addition, council bosses spent 5.3m on consultancy and 700,000 on legal advisors.
Previous figures reported during the current county council pay review have already revealed that 13 consultants employed by the authority are being paid more than 64,000 a year.
The 22.43m bill for consultants and agency staff in 2009-10 has been heavily criticised by the opposition Liberal Democrats in the county.
Lib Dem group leader Cllr Brendan Glynane said he requested answers because information which has been published on the council's own website is unclear.
Cllr Glynane said: "It is simply astonishing they have been handing out public money to consultants on this scale.
"Everybody knows times are tough and public spending will have to be scaled back, but the task at Northamptonshire will be that much harder
if the Conservatives insist on wasting so much cash on consultants.
"They need to stop this wasteful spending so we can protect services for the most vulnerable.
"In some cases it might be cheaper to have a consultant but you have lots and lots of people working for Northamptonshire County Council with a whole range of skills. If you want to save money you surely should be making the best use of the staff you have."
The county council, which has to save 100m in the next four years, is currently conducting a pay and benefits review affecting more than 14,000 staff. A total of 4,127 face their basic pay being reduced.
Cllr Bill Parker, cabinet member for finance, said: "We are continuing to review all of our spending including that on external help. In an ideal world it would be good if we could call on our own staff for the relevant expertise, but the fact remains that situations do arise when we need to call on external help. That said, I would be surprised if the figure is not lower again in 2010-11."
He said agency staff were essential in adult social care in particular, while technical expertise is needed to be called upon for specialist projects such as highways.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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